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Sunday, September 9, 2012

Mad for Plaid

Well, Fall weather will soon be here, so now is as good a time as
any to play with some plaid fabric (courtesy of a Sew Weekly Pattern Swap).

I just love when an entire dress can be made from bits and
bobs in the stash. And this dress was
one of those projects! Well, except for the zipper . . . but all in all, that is pretty darn good.

I found the bemberg rayon lining in a drawer. And miraculously, I had a dark brown spool of
thread on hand.

To break up the linear plaid I decided to cut the midriff
pieces on the bias. To keep everything from stretching out, I pulled a length of cotton from the stash and cut
duplicate pieces on the grain and treated them as an underlining.

This also was a bit of a relief for all of that plaid
matching. Actually, this particular
plaid was quite easy to match. Knowing
this, I still would have chosen to mess with the midriff section. I believes it makes things look a bit more
interesting!

I also found the bodice shaping very appealing. Silly me, I assumed that those lines were
darts (which could easily be substituted if you hate pleats) and one of these
days I will actually start reading the descriptions on the back of the pattern
envelopes, but this time it turned out to be a happy surprise. They add a little something different to a
very basic silhouette.

I like to use a french seam on my bemberg linings. It
gives me an opportunity to practice the technique, sometimes pressing
the first seam open, sometimes to one side, without having to worry about a
perfect and narrow finish on a delicate fabric with quite a bit of drape. At this point, the finish feels like second nature.

As I was putting my outfit together, I remembered a brown velvet ribbon belt that
I rescued from an old skirt. Instead of
wearing it at the waist seam, I opted for a mid-ribcage look (because of the
velvet nap, it stayed in place all day long!).

"Now they're turning a phrase for, and about, her.""A phrase? It's a verb!""What if it gets into the vernacular?""Barring containment, Laura Mae-hem will ensue!""Or will we find ourselves in a full-fledged Laura-Mae-le'e (Laura-melee)?""Come what Laura Mae, we best stock our sewing cellars with canned goods and treadle machines.""That's pointless, she's already dominating chat rooms, blogs, and magazines. Her sewing militias are rumored to be on every continent, in every country. The future will be rife with crisp pinafores, draped shrugs, and well-worn ruffle attachments." "Why, she's all but Laura Mae'd this world her own." [sardonically] "Ya noticed?"[in a cautious whisper] "THAT Laura Mae!"

About Me

Chronicling my adventures in creativity. I adore sewing and knitting, mostly vintage or vintage-inspired patterns. I hope this blog will inspire others to create lovely and lasting garments that speak of a past era and yet remain timeless and elegant.